Space dust to unlock Mexican pyramid secrets

Reuters via MSNBC ^ | Updated: 01:58 PM PT March16, 2004 | By Alistair Bell

[vannrox]

Space dust to unlock Mexican pyramid secrets

Muon detector could point scientists to hidden burial chambers

Two vendors sit near the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan, where physicists are using a muon detector to look for hidden burial chambers.

TEOTIHUACAN, Mexico - Remnants of space dust that constantly shower the world are helping unlock the secrets of a 2,000-year-old Mexican pyramid where the rulers of a mysterious civilization may lie buried.

Deep under the huge Pyramid of the Sun, north of Mexico City, physicists are installing a device to detect muons, subatomic particles that are left over when cosmic rays hit Earth.

The particles pass through solid objects, leaving tiny traces which the detector will measure, like an X-ray machine, in a search for burial chambers inside the monolith.

Since there are fewer muons in an empty space than in solid rock or earth, scientists will be able to spot any holes inside the pyramid, a sacred site in the city of Teotihuacan, which rose and fell around the same time as ancient Rome.

"If we detect an area where there is less density than expected, that gives us an indication that there is probably a hole there," said Arturo Menchaca, head of the National Autonomous University's physics institute.

Who ruled Teotihuacan?

Archaeologists would then likely tunnel into the pyramid in the hope of finding a burial chamber and solving the riddle of who ruled the city now known as Teotihuacan, also home to the smaller Pyramid of the Moon and a huge temple to a fierce serpent god.

Housing 150,000 people at its apogee, the city exerted influence over territory stretching hundreds of miles, to modern-day Guatemala, but no one knows its true ancient name or who its founders were.

The name Teotihuacan ("The Place Where Men Become Gods") was given by awed Aztecs who inhabited the area 700 years after the city was abandoned around A.D. 600. The Aztecs were stunned by the monumental buildings and precise city planning.

[vannrox]

COOL

[chance33_98]

Bump for science and wife ping

[RS]

Cool is right...
I remember some years ago when I was climbing to the top, and some stupid tourists were actually buying pots and things from the hawkers on the stairs on the way UP !

[Sam Cree]

How do they know there is a burial chamber in the thing?

[tet68]

Look! Look! The pyramid is opening up!
Which one? Which ONE!?

The one with the everwidening hole.

Now look, the sun is going down!
No, no my boy, the horizon is moving up!

I know, lets stand him on his head.

NOW it's morrrrrrning!

[Fiddlstix]

Ping

[blam]

Thanks for the ping. Already covered here last month.

Muons To Unlock Secrets Of Teotihuacan

[Ethyl]

Thanks for the ping. Already covered here last month.
Muons To Unlock Secrets Of Teotihuacan


So????????????? Party Pooper.

[blam]

"So????????????? Party Pooper."

Yes, you're correct. I'll keep my mouth shut from now on.

[LiteKeeper]

SPOTREP - SCIENCE

[SunkenCiv]

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic ·
	Gods Graves Glyphs	Just adding the ping message, this topic was already in the catalog. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are Blam, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
· Google · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology magazine · Biblical Archaeology Society · · Mirabilis · Texas AM Anthropology News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · History or Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·